Microsoft taps iTap as basis for remote desktop apps

You may not always need to access your Windows computer from your Mac or iOS device, but when you do, you might have turned to Austria’s HLW Software, which offered mobile clients for both Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and the Virtual Network Computing (VNC) standard.

Earlier this week, though, the Vienna-based company announced that it had discontinued the iOS, Android, and Mac versions of iTap mobile (along with the rest of its apps), and advised users to instead await official solutions from Microsoft itself, which it said would be “available in app stores later this month.”

That timing seemed more than fortuitous, so we reached out to Microsoft; a spokesperson for the company told us that “Microsoft did acquire specific IP assets from HLW Software Development GmbH (HLW). This was used as a base for development, on top of which we implemented, amongst other things: RDP 8, RemoteApp support, multitouch, and all new UI.”

Dan Moren Senior Editor

Dan has been writing about all things Apple since 2006, when he first started contributing to the MacUser blog. Since then he's covered most of the company's major product releases and reviewed every major revision of iOS. In his "copious" free time, he's usually grinding away on a novel or two.More by Dan Moren